HungerKids
by Dapper Dino
Summary: The 52nd Hunger Games have begun and the Starkids have been chosen as tributes. Contains a navy-load of ships!
1. Chapter 1

The streets of District 1 buzzed with excitement, every child wanting to prove their strength. The girls waited with baited breath as the Capitol woman's fingers danced over the papers in the bowl. After what seemed like an age she pulled out a slip and read the name "Devin Lytle". A tall slim girl with brown hair walked up to the stage. It was her last year, her last chance to compete and she had made that very clear, announcing to every girl in the district that if they even thought about volunteering this year they'd be better off dying in the area. They had obviously listened as none of them stepped forward to volunteer.

Then it was the boy's turn and the woman started her hand dance again. She snatched up a piece of paper and called out the name. "Tyler Brunsmen"

With a flash of his smile he made his way to the stage, ready to dazzle everybody with his deathly style; but he wasn't as lucky as Devin, there was a volunteer. A short boy with a big fro practically launched himself onto the stage to volunteer.

"And what is your name, dear boy?" The woman asked as a vengeful Tyler plodded back to his place in the crowd.

"Darren Criss." He announced, failing to hide the smile that was spreading across his face.

District 2 was just as excited, they were practically falling over themselves to volunteer as tribute. The two that managed to come out on top were a slight blonde-haired girl who had the sweetest smile named Alle-Faye Monka and a hench boy who seemed twice the size of his fellow tribute, his name was Joe Walker.

It was a different atmosphere in 3, none of them were really trained athletically and although all of them could outsmart their opponents it was just luck as to whether an opportunity like that would present itself. The two tributes were chosen. The girl, Meredith Stepien, looked as if she would be scared to death at the first sign of conflict. The boy, Corey Lubowich, seemed as if he would be able to withstand a bit of hand-to-hand combat, but his glasses made him seem weak and an easy target. There were no volunteers.

In district 4 the excitement was back, the last of the career districts, and although there were no volunteers the two that were chosen seemed happy with themselves. Jaime Lyn Beatty and Joey Richter, a little girl with giant dolphin eyes and a tall boy with a crooked jaw.

The tributes from 5 seemed reluctant at best. Arielle Goldman, a girl with wavy brown hair shuffled onto the stage, her head held high as she tried to look indifferent whilst tears were threatening to make an appearance. Brian Holden, a brown-haired boy clenched his teeth and looked as if he would start breathing fire over everyone.

At district 6 the tributes were a little girl who looked at if she'd usually be bouncing around everywhere, but instead was in complete shock, her name was Sango Tajima, and a boy who let absolutely no emotion show on his face the entire time, he was called Jeff Blim.

In 7 the tributes were Julia Albain and Dylan Saunders, they both seemed quite strong but other than that they were completely different. Julia had to have everything in order and know exactly what was happening, whereas if Dylan was more laid back, he would be horizontal. It was obvious that they weren't fond of each other as Julia had a worse reaction when Dylan's name was called than when her own name was read out.

District 8's tributes were June Saito, a smiley girl who put on a brave face when her name was picked and Joe Moses, a small 12 year old boy who wasn't quite sure how to deal with the situation.

The tributes for district 9 were completely different. The girl, Lauren Lopez, was a tiny little thing who seemed so fragile a gust of wind could knock her over and the boy, Jim Povolo, could only be described as a giant. The two of them standing next to each other seemed so odd, but he instantly took a protective role over her and she happily hid behind the giant.

In district 10 the girl tribute was called, Denise Donovan. She was tall with short blonde hair and she graced onto the stage with a kind of light indifference that could only be achieved by years of practice. The boy tribute, Brian Rosenthal was a lanky 12 year old boy who's eyes widened and he couldn't manage to get out anymore than "I...I just...I..." for the duration of the reaping.

The tributes in 11 were a crazy-eyed girl named Britney Coleman and a lanky boy called Corey Dorris. They both trudged onto the stage, minds racing, both trying to think of their strengths from years of harvesting.

The district 12 tributes seemed to have already given up. Lily Marks and Nick Lang gave each other solemn looks, certain that they had just been sentenced to death with no hope of getting through it alive.

* * *

The trains pulled into the Capitol and the tributes gradually made their way into the Training Centre. On their first night very few of them slept, they couldn't get used to the sudden luxury and vibrancy of the Capitol, plus the thought of parading in front of the whole of Panem made a few of them sick to their stomachs.

Brian Holden through a vase across the room, Britney ripped her sheets up and Sango left everything in her room completely untouched, she curled up in a ball against the wall an laid there, mind racing, for the whole night.

The next morning the tributes were plucked and waxed, pulled apart and stuck back together again. The sleepless tributes were woken earliest whereas the careers who managed to have a lovely sleep were woken up last, they had all been able to take pride in their appearance back home so there was nothing much for their prep team to do. With Devin they just had a conversation about the essential need for a good pair of red heels and quickly touched up her make up.

Once they had been prepped, the tributes got into their outfits for the parade.

District 1 were dressed in gold with hints of red. Darren's gold suit was lined with a rich red that made his bold stature stand out and Devin's gold dress seemed to play a trick with the lights for when she moved, flashes of red would dance across her dress making her impossible to tear your eyes away from her.

District 2's outfits were a pure power couple. Joe's suit looked as if it was made of steel and somehow managed to make him seem even bigger than he already was and Alle-Faye's slick silver dress made her look elegant with a dangerous edge, like the strange steel beauty of a decorative knife, ready to strike at any moment.

District 3 paled in comparison, it was as if their stylists thought they weren't worth much effort. Corey was wearing a black suit with wires coming out of it everywhere making him look like a distressed robot. Meredith's dress was short and designed to look like a circuit board, she looked stunning in it but compared to the way the other girls shimmered in the light with their ever-changing dresses it was nowhere near as memorable.

District 4 didn't seem like much to look at at first, but when the light hit them it was magical. Joey's suit was a dark blue, excentuated by little flecks of white which, when caught in the light, made it look like waves crashing against his body. Jaime's dress was dark blue with black netting covering it, pretty simple until she moved and it gave the illusion of the sea flowing over her body.

District 5's outfits could only be described as bright. Both Brian's suit and Arielle's dress were fitted with thousands of little bulbs, the glow of which hid Brian's stern expression and Arielle's look of a rabbit caught in headlights.

District 6's outfit didn't make sense at first. They were both wearing shimmering green numbers with gold flecks in them, but when the light was shining on them and they moved it looked like the view from the train, whizzing past the green fields.

District 7 were in simple brown outfits. It became apparent that they were trying to focus more on their dynamic than there outfits as Dylan's nonchalant smile irritated Julia to no degree which just made him chuckle and annoyed he even more, to the point when she actually started an argument with him halfway through the parade.

District 8's costumes were colourful and cute. Joe was wearing a patchwork suit which seemed to dwarf him and make him seem younger than he was. June was wearing a patchwork halter neck swing dress which, coupled with her bright smile, made her look extremely adorable.

District 9's golden green outfits were similar but had completely different effects. Jim's suit somehow managed to elongate his limbs and, especially next to Lauren, his legs looked as if they went on for miles. Lauren's dress was short with a tutu skirt and made her seem smaller, younger and the most innocent thing in the entire world.

District 10's outfits used a lot of cow hide. Brian was done up like a cowboy and looked just like a little kid, eyes wide, taking in the whole scene. Denise's dress was complete cowhide, it was very loud but her personality shone through and it was a look that only she could look beautiful in.

The outfits for district 11 had a simple premise, flowers. Corey's bright suit was an explosion of colour, the delicate waves of colours made it seem like a flower was bursting out of him and the suit was cut to show off his strong stature. Britney's dress was green and slim, showing off her toned body, but her hair was gelled up around her face to make her look like a flower; with someone like Lauren or Sango it would look cute, but with Britney it just made her look more crazy.

Finally district 12 rolled in and their outfits were a simple black. Nick's dark suit blended in with the background so he seemed ninja-like, giving him some hope for the games. Lily's little black dress shimmered in the light, giving the impression of coals about to burst into flames, a burning fury, something to make the sponsors think twice before writing her off.

* * *

_This was kind of a set-up chapter, I couldn't think of a way to show these parts from everyone's perspective without it dragging on for too long._

_After this it will be in a more story-like format, pwomise :)_


	2. Chapter 2

The second night in the Training Centre was better for most of them, a few of them still tossed and turned, Sango had taken to sleeping on the floor and Britney made sure she broke something before she gave into her fatigue.

The first day of training reared its ugly head and gradually the tributes got dressed and made their way down to the training area. The careers were the first to arrive, naturally, and the boys immediately started trying to show off to the girls. Darren told Jamie how far he could throw a spear, Joe bragged to Devin about how strong he was and Joey was re-enacting the time he caught a giant fish by himself to Alle-Faye who, frankly, looked as if she'd picked the short straw. Before Joey could completely freak her out, more of the tributes arrived and their conversation moved on to what they thought their weaknesses would be. The district 5 tributes arrived next, Brian stood a good distance away from everyone else and Arielle looked extremely awkward standing between him and the careers.

District 3 were the next to arrive, they shuffled towards everyone and stood next to Brian.

"Hi" Meredith smiled at Brian.

"...hi" he replied, for the first time taking notice of any of the other tributes. She had an endearing quality about her, for some reason he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

8 and 10 arrived at the same time, the girls looking more like babysitters as the boys looked around the room buzzing with excitement, somehow unaware of the bleakness of their situation. They were all sizing up the others, thinking of whether they could overpower them in some way, all apart from JoMo and Brosenthal who were annoying their fellow district members by pointing out everything around them, even June was getting tired of JoMo's constant badgering. Denise looked as if Brosenthal hadn't shut up for the majority of their time together, every time he found something new to comment on she had to take a deep breath to stop herself from smacking him. Fair to say neither Denise nor June were looking to make allies within their district.

Next to arrive was district 6, Sango appeared with pigtails in her hair and bags under her eyes, the prep team had done their best to conceal them but her lack of sleep wasn't helping. Jeff sidled in completely indifferent to everything, as if he was just going to class instead of preparing to kill everyone else in the room. Denise couldn't help but admire this in him, nothing seemed to faze him. Jeff looked over to her and noticed she was looking at him, she held his gaze and gave him a sly smile. Was she planning how to kill him? Oh come on, everyone's planning how to kill everyone right now. Nevertheless he couldn't show his thoughts, or even show he had thoughts; his plan was always to be completely neutral about everything. He returned her smile and they stared into each others eyes for a moment until they were interrupted by the arrival of the district 9.

At first it just looked like Jim had arrived on his own, but then Lauren poked her head out from behind him and stared sheepishly at the others before ducking back to her hiding spot. The careers were in deep conversation about Jim, his height and stature would be a great advantage to them but they didn't want that little girl hanging around them, they'd look ridiculous and she'd only slow them down, that is if she even made it through the bloodbath. They came to a decision and Joe went and approached the giant.

"Hey Jim, listen, the guys wanna talk to you about something. Can you come and talk to them, you know...on your own?" Joe asked him, he wasn't a short boy, he would actually be consider quite tall for his age, but next to Jim he looked tiny. Jim thought for a few seconds before answering.

"What about her?" He asked gesturing to Lauren. Joe wasn't quite sure what to say, he really didn't want to be seen hanging round with a little girl, what would people think of him?

"Don't worry about her, uh, I'll look after her." Joe suggested pulling off a jovial smile. Jim considered this, looked and Lauren and then nodded. Without another word he walked over to the rest of the careers and Joe was left alone with Lauren. She just stood there awkwardly, avoiding his eyes.

"So...um...what's your name again?" Joe asked her, trying to get something out of the kid.

"Lauren." She said in a small voice.

"Oh well, I'm Joe." He told her, not knowing what to say next. "Nice to meet you, Lauren." It was a weird thing to say considering the circumstances, but it seemed to stir something in Lauren as she turned to Joe and looked into his eyes. He had never really seen her before, her eyes were so pretty, so...pure. That was the only word he could think of to describe her. Pure.

11 and 12 came within a minute of each other, their dynamics completely different; Corey and Britney were standing apart, not even looking at each other, not even trying to kid themselves about there status as opponents whereas Nick and Lily huddled together, both trying to blend in with the other, hoping that they could just disappear all-together.

The last to arrive was district 7 who, of course, were arguing. Julia was shouting at Dylan about being late and Dylan was just ignoring her.

"Hey guys." He said to everyone, more to annoying Julia than to actually greet anyone.

"Don't ignore me! Look we're the last here! All because you took so long to get ready! What are you gonna do in the area, huh? You can't just stroll along, you'll be dead before the thought to go a bit quicker has reached your slow brain!" She shouted, her face as red as a tomato.

"Juls, calm down." He chuckled, turning to her. "It's only training, and they haven't even started yet." Julia just tutted and turned her head to the tall woman that had just entered the room.

"Hello, my name is Atala and I am the head trainer." The woman told them "As you can see, there are various stations around the gymnasium teaching a variety of skills from spear-throwing to knot-tying. Experts in each skill will remain at their stations, you are free to travel from area to area as you choose, per your mentor's instructions. You are forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute, there are assistants on hand if you want to practice with a partner." She then read out the list of skill stations and then left the tributes to decide where to go first.

The careers travelled as a pack along with Jim and Lauren, they couldn't get Jim to come without her and Joe was sort of warming up to her. Corey L went over to the station about edible plants and Meredith went to follow, but was stopped by Brian asking if she could help him with snares, she was slightly surprised by his request by agreed nonetheless and they made their way over to that station. Arielle had gone to learn how to start a fire, she thought it best to start off with the survival skills seeing as she was hoping to use them a lot more than combat. Sango decided to start with camoflage and found that she was joined by June, who was glad to be away from JoMo. He had gone off to the obstacle course and was hanging upside-down, pretending he was a spider. Dylan and Julia had gone to the opposite ends of the room with Dylan joining Sango at the campfire section and Julia learning hand-to-hand combat. Nick and Lily joined Corey L with tieing knots, none of them making conversation. Britney went straight to the section with knives whilst Corey learnt about projectiles. Brosenthal joined JoMo on the obstacle course leaving Denise and Jeff on their own, figuring out where to go first. Jeff turned to Denise who was watching Julia spar with the trainer.

"Fancy having a go at throwing a spear?" He asked her. She turned to him with a slightly quizzical expression before her sly smile creeped back onto her face.

"Sure." She agreed. "Then we can see how good you are at wielding a knife." She added as they made their way over to the spear section.

The tributes staying in their chosen groups and made their way around from station to station, then they went into the dining room for lunch. Joey sat down between to Alle-Faye and Jim and got stuck into the fish dish before him.

"Ah, delicious. I love trout! You know the trick to catching a trout is to play the harmonica. Now I don't play the harmonica, so I don't catch that many trout, but I do catch a lot of haddock." He told them, he was about to carry on but Alle-Faye quickly interrupted her.

"So, Lauren, that was quite a shot you had at the archery station." She smiled, Lauren shrunk into herself as her cheeks went red. "Where did that come from?"

"Hehe, yeah, you could say you were a bit of a red herring!" Joey giggled. The whole table rolled their eyes, apart from Lauren who was the only one who seemed to find it funny, and tried too keep the conversation as far from fish as possible, which was a hard feat as Joey seemed to have a complete backlog of fish puns.

* * *

The next few training sessions went mostly the same way, Brian and Meredith stuck together, as did Jeff and Denise, the careers also stuck with each other but Jim and Lauren decided to do their own thing.

Soon came their private sessions and all the tributes were sat in the dining room, preparing for their time to show the gamemakers what they could do.

Joe went in first, he lifted weights, threw spears and showed off his muscles profusely.

Devin entered the room like it was a catwalk then proceeded to run around the room, jump off of walls, throw knifes and wield a machete with perfect style.

Corey shuffled in and made complicated snares with ease and super-fast precision.

Before Meredith went in Brian grabbed her hand. "You can do this, Mere." He smiled. She took a deep breath and tried to return the smile but it was half-hearted. She slowly walked through the doors and shut them behind her. When she was out of sight Brian let go of a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. He couldn't help his feelings for her, he just wanted to protect from everything. The worst part was that she really had a chance to win, her snares were amazing as she was a fast runner, she wasn't heavy either so she could easily climb a tree to get out of harms way, but she just couldn't see it. She was too busy concentrating on how good everyone else was.

Lauren was sitting on her own, thinking about what she would do when it was her turn when Joey came up behind her and made her jump.

"Oh, sorry for scaring you, I'm just Bream-ing with nerves." He smiled, making Lauren let out a small giggle. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrified." Lauren confessed. "I'm totally out of my depth, everyone is so good and has something that they're amazing at. I have nothing, and I'm not even gonna start thinking about the actual games because I know I'm gonna be dead in seconds." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just...I have no idea what I'm gonna do."

"Well, I know it may not be my Plaice to say..." That got another giggle out of her "but you're amazing! You have some real skills at archery, and you can't tell me it was a fluke, I saw you shooting arrows after you went on your own, plus you're really fast and good at climbing, you could hide in a tree and no one would be able to find you! Don't write yourself off yet." He grinned at her.

"Thanks Joey, that's probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." She beamed.

Just then a horrible, blood-curdling scream errupted from inside the training room.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Sorry about the long wait, I just haven't had the time to post this._

_Feel free to review, I'd love to hear what you think about it :)_

_Hope you enjoy it 3_

* * *

Meredith entered the training room and took a deep breath. "I can do this" She repeated to herself. Her mind went straight to Brian and how he'd shown her how good she actually was. He made her realise that not everyone could make snares, that she was quite good at climbing and also that she could outrun him easily. Thinking of their time together made her smile. She took another deep breath and was ready.

She ran to the snare station and grabbed some wire then sprinted to the obstacle course and climbed on top of it. She then made a snare and hung upside down whilst putting it in place. Meredith then proceeded to show off her speed and climbing abilities by making full use of the obstacle course. Full of confidence she decided to go all out and try out some combat moves on the course and it all went smoothly until she climbed on top the monkey bars, where she'd tied her snare, and tested her balance whilst fighting an invisible enemy. Ducking to dodge a pretend punch, her left foot skewed the snare slightly, then uppercutted the pretend person with a little too much enthusiasm and threw off her balance, falling backwards off the bars. She twisted mid-air and landed with all her weight on her right foot, she felt an immediate pain course through her and she knew straight away that it was broken; but that wasn't the end of her endeavours. Her right foot had landed on her snare and there was a split-second for her to realise what had happened before her foot was snagged and she was pulled up into the air. The pain of being hung by her broken ankle was unbearable and she let out a terrible scream that sent coursed through all the gamemakers bodies and sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it.

A few excruciatingly long minutes passed and Brian, who had shot up to the doors when he heard the scream, had been caught in a staring contest with one of the trainers who came to make sure all hell didn't break loose. Brian glared at the trainer, knowing there was nothing he could do so he focused all his anger on her.

Suddenly the doors opened and one of the gamemakers stepped out. Brian turned quickly, waiting to hear news on Meredith, but none came.

"Joey Richter." The gamemaker said. "You're up."

The room was silent. Joey turned to Lauren who looked just as confused as he did. He slowly stood up, looking over at the careers breifly, they were all staring straight ahead except Jaime who was looking at him with a pained expression. He walked over to the doors, passing Brian and seeing the look on his face, he could tell that Brian wanted to ask what happened to Meredith but he knew that he wouldn't get anything out of a gamemaker.

Joey finally got through the doors and had to take a moment to collect his thoughts, everything had seemed to fall out of his mind and he had to strain to remember what he was going to do.

He looked around the room and his eyes caught on the know-tying station. He knew a million knots he could use to catch fish, his mind cleared as he thought about fishing. He knew what he had to do.

Joey used to ropes to tie a net he then used it to capture one of the sparring dummies, grabbed a spear and threw it straight into the dummy's heart. He had found his stride and was soon wielding knives and swords, impressing even himself.

When he was finished the gamemakers gave him a nod and dismissed him and he thought to himself 'Now if only I can pretend that all the other tributes are fish then I'll have this in the bag'

Jaime walked into the room with her head held high. She a nod to the gamemakers then ran to the knot-tying station, grabbed some rope and tied a sequence of complicated knots whilst running around the room, dodging invisible obstacles and kicking at the sparring dummies.

She then ran over to the obstacle course, threw the rope over it and climbed up the rope as quick as a flash. From up there she gathered up the rope and then cracked it like a whip. She did this a few more times then jumped down into a forward roll, emerging from it ready to attack.

Brian stomped into the room, unwilling to play their games but knowing that it would do him no good in the long run. He showed them his survival skills, his ability to avoid, to defend. He never once picked up a weapon, never attacked. He'd get a good score but he'd get it his way. If couldn't escape their games, then he'd play his own.

When Arielle walked into the room she went straight over to start a fire, once that was done she proved her knowledge of edible plants before heading over to tie a couple knots, she then went back to her fire and made a spit. She put out the fire then grabbed a knife and showed off her weak combat skills. It was clear that Arielle wasn't comfortable wielding a weapon but she was showing willing and she hoped that that counted for something.

Jeff smiled at Denise before going through the doors. "Hey there." He greeted the gamemakers confusing them straight off the bat. Jeff then walked over to the hand-to-hand combat dummy and sparred with it, just the basic stuff. He then went to each station and showed average skill in all of them. Jeff was aiming for about a six or seven, he hoped that if he covered all the ground equally then it'd even out and give him a mediocre score.

"See ya" he grinned once they'd dismissed him. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him when he left the room and made his way over to the elevator.

Sango jumped ten feet in the air when she was summoned. She quietly made her way into the training room and looked around, unsure. Her eyes widened at the sight of the camouflage station and she practically ran to it.

After blending herself in with the room, she went over to the fire-starting station and started one as quick as a flash, she'd spent a lot of time at this station during their training and it had completely payed off. She then camouflaged herself into the fire, the tones were so subtle that even as the flames moved and she stayed still, she blended in.

Dylan was up next and he sauntered into the room and over to the edible plant station, giving the gamemakers a non-chalonte nod on the way. He identified the plants perfectly then he showed off the rest of his survival skills before heading over to the hand-to-hand combat station. He stood in front of the dummy and took a long deep breath, closing his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again there was a dark intensity about them. He glared at the dummy for a few seconds before releasing his full uncontrollable rage unto it. He didn't need a weapon, he could kill without them.

When he stopped he turned to the gamemakers who were staring at him, slack-jawed. He got his breath under control, stood up straight, nodded at them and dismissed himself.

Julia went straight for the combat dummy and pummelled it to death, screaming at it and cursing it. She ran around the room, throwing weapons at it, missing most of them but not caring. She grabbed a sword and ran at the dummy with all her might, jumping on it and killing it with the blade going straight through it's face. She stood up and flicked her hair off of her face with a content look.

JoMo ran straight to the obstacle course and just played about on there, not really caring about his training score.

June showed off her camouflage skills, blending into everything quickly and easily.

When Jim went inside, Lauren looked around the near-empty room and was left to her thoughts. Her family back home had already written her off, as had everyone else...until now. The careers were taking notice of her, actually complimenting her. Could it be that she actually had a chance?

She was thrown out of her thoughts went a roar burst through from the training room. Everyone was taken aback. A minute later Lauren was called into the room.

Her thoughts were still scrambled as she stumbled into the room. She stared up at the gamemakers, they stared back expectantly. She wandered over to the archery station and picked up a bow with a shaky arm. Lauren tried to calm her nerves but it was impossible. Grabbed an arrow and pulled it back. Her whole body was shaking, the pressure of her family, her district and her life was getting to her. It all came down to this. She took once last deep breath and let go of the arrow. She closed her eyes. The arrow hit something. Her eyes opened.

It missed.

She crumpled in a heap, hysterical. All her fight expelled from her. After a few minutes the gamemakers stuttered telling her should could leave. She slowly stood up, sniffling and trying to control her cries. She went to the elevator and when it got to her floor she ran straight into her room and cried herself to sleep.

Brosenthal was slightly happier than Lauren, he walked to the centre of the room and looked up at the gamemakers. "Hi, um, I'm Brian Rosenthal, I'm from District 10 and uh, I'm gonna show you my survival skills." He told them "Uh, I guess I'll start off by making a fire." He was quite good at making fires and he had one going in no time at all. He then demonstrated his ability to tie knots and then finally got his hands on a sword. Brosenthal brandished the weapon and swung it around as if he was a warrior going to defend his country. He got so carried away, the gamemakers had to shout to get his attention so they could dismiss him. "Thank you." He said, blushing slightly.

Denise strode in and straight away grabbed a knife. She seemed to do a deadly dance around the room, killing many invisible opponents with such grace and style the gamemakers couldn't take their eyes off of her. When she was finished no one said anything, she just left the room as quickly and silently as she came.

Corey showed off his skills with projectiles and his innate ability to detect edible and poisonous plants.

Britney ran in and went bat-shit-crazy. Destroying all the dummies with everything and anything that she could get her hands on.

Nick gave Lily a weak smile and slowly made his way into the room, he felt bad about leaving Lily on her own but he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't sure what to do, he ended up just tying knots for fifteen minutes.

Lily quickly walked in, after fifteen minutes of being on her own she was just comforted by knowing that there hadn't been a sudden apocalypse that wiped out everyone else in the entire world apart from her. She we t and tied some knots, something that the gamemakers had obviously seen enough of as they weren't taken any notice and a few of them were yawning. She decided to move on to the edible plants section and excelled at that. They still didn't care. So she took a complete shot in the dark and went over to the knives section. She picked up a throwing knife and aimed at the target. A few of them were now taking notice, they obviously hadn't been expecting her to even go near a weapon.

She cleared her mind and focused completely on the target. Lily took a deep breath an threw the knife.

It hit the target.

She had to stop herself doing a jig, she had to pretend she expected that to happen. She allowed herself a smirk and glanced at the gamemakers, they were all looking now. She had to show them it wasn't a fluke. She grabbed another knife, focused on the target and threw the knife. It hit again. She was truly smiling now.

After a few more minutes and 5 more knives thrown and hitting the target, Lily's time was up and she was dismissed. She floated into the elevator and up to her floor. She went straight to Nick and her team and told them of her small victory.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: This is only a short chapter, but fear not! The next chapter will be longer, trust meh!_

_Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy it :) 3_

* * *

Lauren awoke to someone knocking on her door. For a blissful moment she had no idea where she was. She knew she wasn't at home but she couldn't quite put her finger on where this place was. It was an in-between place. A happy place.

Another knock threw her out of that world and into the real one. "Come on, they're about to show the training scores" her mentor called to her. She slowly sat up, rubbing her sore eyes as she remembered what had happened.

"I'll...be there...in a sec" Lauren muttered. She moved as slow as possible to avoid going out there, but seeing as she was near the end she'd have to take an awfully long time and they'd probably would've dragged her out by then. So she took her hair out of its messed up ponytail and went into the lounge area.

Everyone was already there, their stylists, their escort and their four mentors. Jim sat beside Taalia, their mentor, who had obviously been trying to teach him to sit up nicely as he looked extremely uncomfortable; Lauren opted to sit between two of their mentors, Kay and Buck. Buck was a giant man who's stature managed to hide Lauren from the rest of the group and Kay was a calm woman that was always nice and understanding, Lauren hoped that she'd understand this time. Their other mentors were Wheatley and Rye; Wheatley was quite young, it hadn't been long since he'd won his own games although how that happened no one knows as he was a complete idiot and seemed worse than useless, and Rye just stared at everyone as if she was still in the games and planning how to kill you. Lauren didn't mind their stylists, Indi and Luchee, but they were very much capitol people and she had nothing in common with them.

The scores came in and everyone watched with baited breath, making comments as they came up.

District 1  
Darren Criss - 10  
Devin Lytle - 10  
Wheatley: No surprise there

District 2  
Joe Walker - 10  
Alle-Faye Monka - 9  
Buck: Ooo she's gonna hear about that!

District 3  
Corey Lubowich - 5  
Meredith Stepien - 3  
Kay: Poor thing! I wonder what happened.

District 4  
Joey Richter - 9  
Jaime Lyn Beatty - 9  
Taalia: Well that's to be expected

District 5  
Brian Holden - 7  
Arielle Goldman - 4  
Kay: Not too bad

District 6  
Jeff Blim - 7  
Sango Tajima - 5  
Taalia: Hmm, that boy seems like a strange one

District 7  
Dylan Saunders - 10  
Julia Albain - 7  
Buck: Wow! I was not expecting that!

District 8  
Joe Moses - 4  
June Saito - 6  
Wheatley: Hm, the usual

District 9  
Jim Povolo - 8  
Lauren Lopez - 1  
Kay:...well done, guys

District 10  
Brian Rosenthal - 7  
Denise Donovan - 9  
Buck: Yeah I thought that girl had something about her

District 11  
Corey Dorris - 7  
Britney Coleman - 8  
Wheatley: That doesn't surprise me, that girl looks bat-shit-crazy

District 12  
Nick Lang - 2  
Lily Marks - 8  
Taalia: Well I didn't expect that from her.

There was silence for a while afterwards. Lauren was in a state of shock. Kay had put her arm around her and was trying to think of a way to change the subject. "So, Jim...what exactly did you do?" Kay asked. Lauren looked up at this question, it was something she'd been wondering herself. Jim took a moment to answer.

"I just roared at them." He told them. There was a moments pause where nothing happened, no one reacted, then Lauren let out the tiniest giggle and the whole room erupted. Everyone was in fits of laughter at the thought of the gamemakers being so taken aback by Jim and his almighty roar.

That night everyone slept peacefully. The only thing left was the interview and whilst they weren't all comfortable with the idea of one wrong word meaning certain death in the arena, they were all exhausted from their training and all the emotions that had rushed through them throughout the day.

That morning they all woke up, were pulled about by their prep teams and then got into their outfits. They were all reminiscent of their parade outfits and luckily a few of them were a bit better.

When they were all herded into the line, the nerves started to creep in. This was their last chance to get any help from the outside before the games began. No one, apart from Jeff, looked comfortable. Jeff kept looking behind him to smile at Denise, she looked absolutely stunning in her dress and, seeing as he'd probably be dead soon, he wasn't going to pass up the chance to look at a beautiful girl.

After what seemed like an age, they were called into the studio and into their seats.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Hopefully it's worth it, though XP_

_Don'tForgetTheNotes: Yay! Haha, so glad you like it! And that might happen...maaaybee_

_MyChemicalTuna: WOOOOO! I love Lily too! She's siriusly an underrated Starkid!_

_Hope you enjoy it :) 3_

* * *

Devin was called up and everyone could tell her strategy from her dress; sexy. She sat down and slowly flicked her hair and smiled a devilish smile. She negotiated her interview with ease and Caesar Flickerman kept saying how stunning she always looked.

Next up was Darren who's amiable smile charmed everyone before he'd even said a word. By the end of the interview he had managed to make all the women fall in love with him and all the men want to be friends with him.

Alle-Faye swished onto the stage in a confident manner which was very different to Devin's approach. When Caesar asked what she thought of the other tributes she simply said "I just see them as moving targets"

Joe came onto the stage and gave the audience his signature smoulder, making all the women nearly faint. Caesar gave a chuckle and said "You're quite the specimen, aren't you."

"Thank you, Caesar. I do try to keep in shape." Joe replied as he showed off his muscles and made a few women fall to the floor.

Then it was Meredith's turn and she had quite the entrance. She hobbled in on crutches and made a bit of a kerfuffle when trying to sit down. "Wow, well, what shall we talk about?" Caesar joked

"Oh I don't know if I have anything to say." Meredith laughed. She went on to explain that she injured herself in the training session and that she should be fully recovered for the start of the games, thanks to the amazing medical treatments in the Capitol. When she had made everyone fall in love with her adorable klutzy ways, her time was up and she awkwardly stood up and went back to her seat with the others.

Corey came onstage fiddling with his glasses, far less impressive than any of the others. "So Corey, you're stature is a little different than the other tributes, if you don't mind me saying, what do you think is your best advantage in the games?" Caesar asked after welcoming Corey to the stage.

"Never underestimate the power of math." Corey started. "I can calculate the trajectory of their moves and predict where and when their weapon will hit before they even know it themselves." Caesar was impressed by this answer and all the other intelligent answers Corey came out with. By the end of his interview the audience was extremely confused but completely impressed.

Jaime took the stage and beamed at the crowd like an excited puppy. She went on to say how honoured she was to represent her district and how much she loved the Capitol and everyone in it. The whole time her legs swung back and forth and her dolphin eyes were wide and sparkling in the lights.

Joey sat in the seat with a smile on his face, completely comfortable with his surroundings. Caesar and Joey's rapport was incomparable, they had the audience in stitches as they swapped fish puns. The audience was genuinely disappointed when Joey's time was and he left the stage with one last pun.

Arielle swiftly made her way to the seat and it seemed to dwarf her and made her seem even more small and scared than she did before. Caesar had a job to get anything out of her and when he did she was barely audible.

Brian sat with a scowl on his face, Caesar tried to be jovial with him but he was having none of it and turned everything round to be about how unfair it all was and what terrible people they all were, his mentor almost had a heart attack.

Sango seemed to float into the chair like a quiet fairy. Once Caesar had made her feel comfortable she spoke about her family and life back home, whilst mentioning how she managed to help out a lot of people with her resourcefulness, that have Caesar something to go on so that by the time the interview was over a few of the sponsors had taken note of her.

Next up was Jeff and he amazingly managed to keep 'detached' image whilst in the spotlight. He came across as a cool guy that people liked but he was average enough for them to forget about him.

Julia came onto stage in a slightly rehearsed manner and proceeded to give obviously rehearsed answers. "You clearly think ahead, Julia, as you've predicted all of my questions and have all of the answers." Caesar commented.

"I pride myself on my organisation and my ability to think ahead." Julia nodded, she knew he'd say something like that as well.

Dylan was completely different, he'd barely thought about what he might be asked and instead took the approach of trying to befriend Caesar and the audience and just generally being chilled out. He sat on the chair as if he was visiting an old friend's house, like he'd been there before a million times. The audience took to him like bees to a flower, as if they were all just old friends instead of them being bystanders whilst he was sent to his death.

June sat in the seat showing off her dimples with her adorable smile. Caesar asked her questions about home and she told them about her family and her pet cat who she adored, the audience were loving it! She was like an adorable little button that they wanted to hug and give her a billion cats.

JoMo skipped to the seat and waved excitedly at the audience and the cameras "Hi mom!" He shouted.

"Wow, you've got a lot of energy, kid!" Caesar smiled. "How old are you?"

"I'm 12 and 3/4! It's my birthday soon and I want a biiiiig cake in the shape of a car!" JoMo told Caesar, slightly distracted by the thought of cake.

"Well let's hope we can get you to your birthday" Caesar smiled, there was a falseness to it, he knew what the kid was going through and was about to go through. He just hoped that JoMo would manage to keep his imagination with him until the end. The audience was obviously thinking this way too as a few of them had take out their tissues.

Lauren shuffled onto the stage and looked out at the world that seemed to grow so much bigger but somehow suffocatingly small at the same time. Caesar managed to make her feel more relaxed and got her to talk about home and her family whilst avoiding the subject of training scores completely. Before too long the audience had completely written off the small innocent girl with her 1 and were just waiting for her time to be up. Lauren sensed this and tried her hardest to keep herself from crying; she just about managed.

Jim dwarfed the chair and stared at intimidatingly at the audience. When Caesar asked a question Jim would pause for a moment and give a short, simple answer in his deep booming voice.

Denise bounced onto the stage and made an impression as a beautiful girl who was a bit ditzy but very funny. Caesar didn't have to try at all to get her to show her strengths and to make the audience love her. When her interview was over the everyone was in high spirits again.

Brosenthal had to be called twice before he realised it was his turn then he stumbled into the seat and looked around with a gormless grin. Throughout Caesar's questioning his answers were never quite right, like he didn't quite understand the question and wasn't really there, but he tried anyway. This made him come across as an adorable idiot and the audience ate it up, by the end of it they had aww'd and giggled so much they couldn't handle it anymore.

Britney's interview was like everything else to do with her: unstable. Every answer she gave made it seem like she was about to jump up and attack everyone, Caesar was generally unfazed by this, he'd dealt with it before, and said all the right things to try to calm her. She calmed down as much as she possibly could, but it wasn't much and the audience were extremely relieved when her interview was over.

Corey swaggered on stage and sat down, cool as a cucumber. Caesar was relived to have such a chilled out tribute after Britney and it showed in his manner. Their talk seemed less like and interview and more like a friendly chat and their time was up before the audience knew it, generating a sincere moan from them.

The penultimate tribute was Lily and she sat on the seat and immediately said "You've got a little mark on your shirt" and pointed it out to Caesar, he was slightly taken aback but brushed off the mark with a smile.

"Thank you, Lily. Do you care for everyone like this?" He asked

"Oh yeah, my friends say that I'm more like their mother!" She giggled. By the end of the interview, the audience thought that too.

"And last, but definitely not least, Nick Lang from District 12" Caesar grandly introduced as a small, unimpressive boy walked on stage and took the seat. Although he made no impression in the parade, the training or his entrance, he made a lasting impression in his interview. The small, unassuming boy was a laughter factory. He had the audience and Caesar in stitches as his quick wit and pure funny bones soared him straight to the top of the Capitol's attention.

Caesar brought the interviews to a close and the anthem played. The tributes were lead out of the studio and across to the elevators; but before any of them had a chance to get in one, something happened that completely changed the fate of the games.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Just a short chapter, but dw the next one will be gooooooooood! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA *clears throat* sorry about that XP_

_MyChemicalTuna: THANK YOU! I know, if she was in more stuff then I know loads of people would love her!_

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As they walked towards the elevators, adrenaline rushed through Devin as she thought of well she had done throughout the journey so far. She needed to let out all her energy somehow and as her eyes locked onto the little girl from 9, she couldn't help the venom spew out of her mouth "I always knew you were useless." she spat at Lauren. Lauren jumped, she had been lost in her own thoughts and wasn't expecting anyone to even acknowledging her.

"Leave her alone, Devin." Joey told her, stepping forward.

"Oh, so you're sticking up for her now, are you?" Devin scoffed. "Well why don't YOU be allies with her in the arena and we'll see how far you get!" That stopped him. He tried to find some sort of come-back but there was nothing he could say. Lauren had been great in training, but if she couldn't handle it when there was any pressure then she would be useless in the arena. "So, do you want to be allies with her?" Devin pressured. Joey looked at Lauren her eyes wide and staring at him hopefully, obviously hanging on his response. He didn't want to make her upset but this was a matter of life and death. After a moment he looked to the floor and shook his head, no. "Good." Devin nodded. "But now I'm not sure that I want to be allies with you."

"What the fish-hook, Devin?" Joey shouted. "Don't be such a Bichir! You know you need me in your team! I got a freakin 9 in training, the audience loved me, you won't want me as an enemy!"

"Why should I care about your 9 when I got a 10?" Devin spouted back

"Because if you don't have him then you don't have me." Jaime told her, stepping forward.

"Oh wow, two 9's I'm quaking in my boots!" Devin spat sarcastically. "Why don't you two just go off with Lauren and be a little loser family!" Joey went to shout back but Joe stepped between them.

"Guys! We are not splitting up! It will be me, Devin, Joey, Jaime, Darren and Alle-Faye and that is it. No questions. No arguments." The room went deathly quiet.

"What about Lauren?" Devin asked Joe, raising her eyebrows. She'd notice them get quite close during training and by his reaction he obviously had feelings for her.

"What about Lauren?" He answered after clearing his throat.

"So you don't care about her?" Devin asked

"Why would I?" He said, not looking at Lauren at all. "Look, this is settled. Let's just go and get some rest."

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page about us working together and that Lauren is a stupid, useless little girl that we should never have taken any notice of." Devin said matter-of-factly as she looked around the group. "Are we all on the same page?" Darren and Alle-Faye said yes straight away, Jaime looked at Joey and nodded her head, Joe took a deep breath and said yes and Joey kept his eyes on the floor and slowly nodded his head. "Good. Right, let's go rest up for the big day tomorrow." And with that, the careers left, leaving everyone else to puzzle over what just happened.

Lauren's face was completely blank. She stood there for a minute in silence, unmoving; then she turned and quietly made her way up to her floor. Everyone else was left in a daze, a few of them scurried into elevators but others just stood in shock, surely things like that don't happen every year.

Dylan and Julia were one of the latter, both of them then stood open mouthed. "Woah." Dylan finally said.

"Yeah." Julia agreed. They looked at each other briefly then made their way into the elevator. "So how do you think this'll change our chances?"

"Wh- Julia!" Dylan said, shocked. "That poor girl has just been ripped of every chance of staying alive and you're just thinking about yourself!"

"What?! I'm sorry, but isn't the whole point of the games to keep yourself alive?! There can only be one winner, Dylan. There's no room for empathy. You spend too much time worrying about other people, you die. That's just the way it is." Julia shot back at him. Dylan shook his head.

"You start thinking like that, then you're already dead." He told her.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, I know we weren't the best of pals back home, but it was hard to miss how much you did for other people and how much you cared for everyone. Don't let them take that from you. Don't let the games change that." And with that the elevator doors opened and Dylan went inside, leaving Julia to process what he'd just said.

* * *

The night passed quickly and sooner than they'd hoped the tributes found themselves in their Launch Rooms under the arena. They passed the time pacing backwards and forwards, having last minute pep-talks with their stylists. A couple of them simply sat and stared, Lauren was one of them. She hadn't spoken since the day before and had barely moved either.

The time finally came. The tributes took their place on their podiums and were lifted into the arena.


	7. Chapter 7

The arena was huge, the victors looked around and saw a giant meadow all around them in a sort of circular shape with the cornucopia in the middle on a small hill. Behind the meadow there were five different types of areas: a forest, caves, a desert, a mountain range and water with what seemed to be a beach a few miles back.

Brian took in the arena and his eyes locked onto the trees. Instant cover without being vulnerable to an attack. When his eyes went back to the cornucopia he caught sight of Meredith.

Meredith.

He knew he should run. His plan was always to run and come back later. But he knew she would go in, she was too stubborn to walk away with nothing. It was very tempting. Would he be quick enough to get in and out without any trouble? But then there was Meredith. If she ran in then he'd have to make sure she was safe.

Ok, new plan: Run in to where Meredith was heading, grab her, grab the first pack to hand, get out. He prayed that her leg was in good enough shape and they'd move fast enough and that the others would be too involved in killing each other to notice them.

Lauren looked around the arena, the words of the tributes resounding in her head. Her family's voices joined them, they had never thought she would get anywhere in life, let alone survive one second in the Hunger Games. Their disappointment filled her head, their vicious words hammered themselves through her skull and she shut her eyes tight to try to drive them away but it didn't help. The roaring coarsed through her body.

The klaxon went and Lauren's eyes flew open. Rage took over her body. She only saw people who had wronged her, people who didn't think anything of her. She was about to prove them wrong.

When klaxon went Brian ran forward without skipping a beat, his eyes trained on Meredith. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. He saw the bag she was heading for, it was open slightly and some wires were spilling out of it. He had no idea what it could be, but Meredith obviously did. His focus locked on to it but he was taken by surprise as someone fell infront of him, it was the boy from Meredith's district, Corey he thought she said his name was, with an arrow through his skull, he looked over to see the tiny girl from 9 laughing manically as she loaded another arrow into her bow and ran further into the bloodbath. Brian was shocked, she seemed so innocent and such a mess, she must have snapped. The reality of the games had become so apparent in only a few seconds of its start.

He quickly turned to the backpack, in the second that had delayed him Meredith had managed to get to the pack. He went to go towards her, then he saw it. The boy from 1. The knife in his hand. Standing over Meredith. Everything slowed down even more, every millisecond felt like an hour and there was nothing he could do. He felt himself shouting her name. She looked up at him just as the boy plunged his knife into her back.

Brian ran to her knowing there was nothing he could do, the boy from 1 was already running away. He had almost made it to Meredith when Dolphin-eyes got to her first. The little girl picked up the pack that Meredith had wanted and ran off without a second glance. Anger boiled up inside Brian. His whole body filled with a rage as hot as a thousand suns. He had no idea where Meredith's killer had got to, so he went after the thief.

He ran after the little girl, no idea what he was going to do when he got to her. He focused all his hate on Dolphin-eyes, ready to pull her apart. Suddenly he tripped up on something and fell flat on his face. He looked back, it was a spear. Perfect.

He jumped to his feet, grabbing the spear as he did so. She hadn't got far. She didn't get any further. Brian ran up to her, the spear had pierced her body in such a way that she was still standing. He went in front of her and pushed her limp body over the top of the spear, he watched as it crumpled on a heap on the ground in the most unnatural pose, no one could mistake her for sleeping. He pulled the spear out of the ground and ran into the woods.

* * *

Joe had ran straight for the cornucopia, he didn't know what he'd find but he knew that the best stuff was always in the middle. He dodged a few people on the way, he wanted a weapon before he started any fighting. Joe saw Lauren run into the cornucopia and come out with a golden weapon. As she ran towards him he saw it was a bow and arrow. He knew how dangerous she could be with that, but how useless she had been under pressure. She was so tiny, he could take her out with one swipe of his arm, but as they past he just couldn't. He had no idea why, but there was something inside of him that just couldn't hurt her. He shook his head and turned his attention back to getting a weapon. The cornupcopia offered an array of weapons, his eyes widened on a hammer that leant against a big backpack brimming with food and he jumped straight for it. He turned back to the bloodbath and saw that nerd get killed by Darren and her boyfriend run after Jaime. He ran out and saw the girl from 8 holding a small backpack and trying to run away, she had the most terrified look on her face and was running straight for him. Perfect.

He ran straight for her and by the time she realised, it was too late for her to turn and run. She stopped in her tracks and a split second later he was towering over her hammer raised. Paralysed with fear she couldn't even scream, she could only stare at the manic look on Joe's face before his hammer smashed into her skull. Her body flew a got few feet from where they were stood and Joe took a moment to admire his strength before turning back to the battle.

He saw Jim towering over everyone and headed for him, he may only be from 9 but his height made him intimidating and Joe wanted him as an ally. He had only taken a few steps when he saw Jim suddenly fall. He ran quicker and got close enough to see the district 11 girl laughing manically and shouting "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" before jumping over his body.

Next step: find the careers. Jaime was probably dead but he hadn't seen Joey yet. He ran through the crowd, pushing through people but not killing them. The rate these games were going he needed to find an ally. The weak districts were suddenly coming up trumps, he couldn't have district 9 winning over him, even if the victor was Lauren.

Lauren. The tiny girl's name jumped into his head as he saw her standing next to the cornucopia, arrow loaded and trained on someone to Joe's right. She let the arrow go and Joe followed it as it whizzed past him and spiked a boy straight through his heart. It was Joey.

"DAMMIT!" Joe shouted. What the hell was wrong with these people? They're supposed to be CAREERS! He turned back to Lauren just in time to see a knife plow into her forehead. His heart jumped into his throat and he had no idea why. He shook the confusing thoughts away and looked back just in time to see Darren run up to her and retrive the knife. FINALLY someone doing their freaking job!

He ran after Darren but just as started off he heard a crazy yell coming towards him and turned to see the 11 girl running up to him, he lifted his hammer ready for an attack but before he got a chance to use it the girls head had come clean off and was rolling away from him. Joe barely had enough time to take in the scene before Devin grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction of Darren.

"You owe me now." She smiled, Joe looked in her other hand and saw a bloody sickle. Now they were getting somewhere.

Joe heard a high-pitched scream from behind them and couldn't resist turning to see who it was. It was that blonde chick from 10 being beaten by Alle-Faye. Joe had to stop, not only to wait for her so she could join them but also to admire her rage, she'd always seemed so calm in training.

"Joe, come on!" Devin shouted at him.

"We need All-" was all Joe managed to get out before a dart shot into his neck. He turned to see where it came from and saw the boy from 11 run back into the woods.

"JOE!" Devin shouted as he fell to his knees. She seemed so far away. Whatever poison he'd found, it was working fast. Joe could feel it corsing through his veins. Every beat of his heart bringing him closer and closer to death. His own body betraying him.

He saw Devin run towards him only to be pushed back by Alle-Faye. In his last moment Joe saw them run off to join Darren. His last breath caught in his throat as he looked to the sky. Then he saw no more.

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_A/N: I know you probably weren't expecting some of those deaths...sorry. Please don't kill me!_

_3_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update! I've been really busy with work and after Inva3ion it took a while for me to be able to write (or even think) about the Starkids without getting a tidal wave of feels! I promise to update sooner next time :)_

_Enjoy :)_

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After walking through the wooded area trying to find a source of water, to no avail, Corey had found a tall sturdy tree, climbed up and snuggled himself in between two branches that were close together and sorted through his backpack. He'd managed to snag a backpack with a blowgun with 24 (now 23) darts, a thick black blanket, a bottle of water, a small packet of dried fruit and night-vision sunglasses. The sun had set and he was waiting to see the faces of the tributes who had died, he had counted ten cannons firing earlier after the bloodbath but the only tribute he knew for certain was dead was the guy from 2.

At the cornucopia Corey had ran forward, grabbed the first pack he saw and retreated into the woods. He'd heard weapons clash and screams but he dare not turn around. He ran straight towards the wooded area and took cover behind a tree. He waited to get his breath back and looked around to see what cover the trees would give him. Corey's eyes immediately fixed on a bush that held poisonous berries and his mind filled with hope and possiblities. Taking cover behind the poisonous bush, Corey rummaged through his bag and found the blowgun and darts. He quickly went to work and aimed at the nearest tribute. He took a moment to steady himself then shot the dart straight into the tribute's neck, it was only once he'd shot the dart that he realised he'd taken down one of the careers. The joy and fear shot through him like the poison was shooting through that career. He ran.

The anthem played and the seal lit up the sky. The faces of the ten fallen tributes flashed in the sky - Joe, Corey L, Meredith, Joey, Jaime, June, Jim, Lauren, Denise and Britney. Corey felt a lump in his throat as he thought of Britney's family back home in District 11. It seemed a lifetime ago that he was sat on the floor in his house playing superheros with his little sister.

He shook his mind back into the arena and put on the specialised eye-wear with a sigh. He checked his surroundings to see if any enemies where nearby, then he noticed a glimmer in the corner of his eye. He turned to his right and noticed the moonlight peaking through the trees and shining off of a lake, the sun obviously was obviously too low for him to notice it when he had surveyed the area earlier. He collected his things then jumped down from the tree and headed towards the lake. It wasn't far, in less than a minute he had dropped his bag beside him and fell to his knees before dunking his head into the fresh, cool water. He pulled his head out of the water with a giant smile on his face and took a deep breath to dunk his head in again. Then the knife sliced through the back of his head.

Devin pulled her knife out of the boy's skull and counted her blessings that Alle-Faye had managed to pull the body out of the lake before he had had a chance to taint the water. The group picked through his bag, filled their canteens with water, added the iodine and made camp by the side of their water.

After the girls had caught up with Darren, the group made their way to the mountains where they stayed, sorting out their supplies, until the cannons fired and they were sure the cornucopia was deserted. They then made their way back to the start and picked through the leftovers. Once they were happy with their stache they made their way into the woods where they deduced most of the tributes would hide.

A few trees away from the lake, Jeff lay on a branch staring at the sky, Denise's picture still in his eyes. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

They had used the training sessions to devise their plan. Denise was faster so they decided that she should go and grab two packs whilst Jeff runs to a place they signaled to at the start. When they got into the arena they instantly looked for each other, luckily they were only a few people separating them and they quickly located a tall tree that they'd use as their meeting point. Denise turned to look over the packs that were spread out in front of them but Jeff carried on staring at her. The sun was hidden behind her head and gave the illusion that she was glowing. Her small smile of contemplation radiated with warmth and, for the rest of the minute until the klaxon sounded, she became all there was in Jeff's world.

When the klaxon went off it shot Jeff out of the haze Denise had put him in and he turned and ran off into the woods, his mind set on the tree. He got there and climbed, trying to get a view of the bloodbath. After moviong from branch to branch for a good few minutes and not finding a good clear view of anything, he decided to climb back down and stay put in case his movement was visible to any of the other tributes.

He sat in the tree for what felt like years.

He only noticed night had fallen when the seal came into the sky and the anthem pulled Jeff into reality and out of the blankness that had began to devour him.

He had waited so long to finally see her again. And there she was. In the sky. At last. For the last time.

Jeff had been stripped of his life. Been thrown into an arena to fight for his life. The only good thing to happen to him had now been brutally taken from him. Her beauty would no longer dance with the sunlight. She was gone.

Gone.

The blankness was creeping in.

Then a sharp intake of breath came from next to him. His heart leapt to his throat and his mind cursed itself by jumping straight to the thought of it being Denise. He turned and came face-to-face with a frightened little girl from District 5 who obviously had no idea that tree was occupied. She fumbled for a knife that she had attatched to her belt, then thrusted her arm towards Jeff. He grabbed her hand, his reactions not affected by his current state of mind. He just stared at the girl for a few seconds, gripping her hand tight.

"You were going to kill me." He finally said, her eyes went wide with confusion and fear. "Of course you were. That's why we're here...that's why we're here." and with one swift movement he twisted her hand and pushed it back towards her, the blade penetrated her stomach and blood gushed over both of them. Jeff pulled the knife out and she fell backwards out of the tree, hitting the ground with a loud thud and the shudder inducing sound of bones breaking.

Jeff stared at the knife. The blankness taking over again. He looked up to where Denise's face had been moments before. He smiled at the thought of her before weilding the knife one last time.


	9. Chapter 9

SORRY! I was so busy finishing my job and starting another job and then I got ill! Excuses, excuses, anyway this one's longer than the last few so hopefully it'll make up for it :)

Don'tForgetTheNotes: Haha, thank you! PAYBACK BISH! XP

Guest: Hehe, sorry! I know I killed off peeps you wouldn't expect but...yeah...soz XP

Enjoy! :)

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Julia jumped out of her skin when the cannon went off. Another death so soon after they'd shown who had died that day, it made her uneasy; she wanted to know exactly who she was up against. Nevertheless she put it to the back of her mind and carried on her trek through the mountains. She had noticed most of the tributes heading for the woods and that was her first instict as well, but her odds would've decreased dramatically if she went into the over-crowded trees so she opted for the mountains. As far as she knew, the only district with any mountains was 2 and although she wouldn't like to go up against any of the carers she was fairly certain that they'd rather hunt the other tributes than find a safe haven to camp out.

Two more canons shook Julia out of her skin. She really didn't like this. Her mind raced to predict who was still in the running. There were 14 of them left after the bloodbath. 3 more have died since then, so there were 11 tributes left in the game. Only 10 more people to out-live.

Suddenly there was a thump from behind Julia, she quickly turned round and saw someone standing there, it was too dark to see who it was but the moonlight glistened off of their knife. She charged into them, knocking them off their feet and ramming them straight into the ground. Now she was up close she could see who her attacker was and she was taken aback by who she saw.

"Dylan?" She whispered. It made no sense. Why wasn't he in the woods? Why had he jumped out on her? Why wasn't he attacking her anymore? Why wasn't she attacking him?

"Yeah, surprise!" He smiled. "Now would you mind getting off me?" Julia scrambled to her feet and Dylan slowly stood with a groan. At the look of her quizzical expression Dylan rolled up his trouser legg to reveal a gash up his shin. "I didn't manage to get out of the bloodbath as smoothly as you." he winced "but at least I got some good stuff" He nodded to the big backpack he was carrying which put Julia's small bag with a plastic sheet and empty bottle to shame.

"You got any water in there?" She asked, the thought of her empty water bottle making her realise just how thirsty she was. Her toungue suddenly felt like she'd been licking sand and she furiously gathered all the saliva in her mouth to quench the desert that it had become.

"Nope. Got two bottles though and iodine." He told her feeling the thirst himself. "But there's gotta be some water around here somewhere, I mean...mountains" He gestured at the giant rocks that surrounded them. Julia looked at him for a second before catiously asking "Do you want to go look for some...together?" Dylan looked back at her and smiled. "Sure." He said then reached out his hand "Allies?"

Julia stopped for a moment. A minute ago he had jumped on her, there was no doubt he'd kill in a heartbeat; but then again that's what you had to do here. The only reason she was still alive was because they were from the same district. If he had killed her then him and his family would face disgrace back home. She was safe with him. For now.

"Allies." She agreed and shook his hand. They carried on the was Julia was going, constantly looking out for any sign of water.

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise, casting a dim light on their surroundings and proving just how long they had been searching for a drop of liquid to soothe their itchy throats. They hadn't said a word to each other since they agreed to be allies and it had got to the point where they were not sure if they'd even be able to talk anymore. On the path in front of them there was a tiny bump, Dylan saw it and knew that he would trip on it as he was dragging his feet but his brain was working too slow to compute what to do about it before he reached it and fell flat on his face. It knocked Julia out of her trance and somehow put her brain into gear.

"Oh my god, can you get up?" She croaked, fairly certain of the answer. He shook his head a tiny amount, as much as he could manage. "Okay. I'll take your water bottles and iodine and find some water. I'll be back before you know it." She started off with a new resolve then she heard a tiny whisper from behind her.

"How do I know you'll come back?" He said as loud as he could. Julia smiled at him, a warm smile which she hadn't used in a while and had no idea why she was using it now.

"You know I will." And with that she went off with a quicker pace than she imagined she could manage.

She had been walking for a few minutes when she hit a wall. The desert came back with a vengence, suffocating every part of her body, soaking up every milliliter of water inside her. She stopped and slumped against the side of a mountain ledge, she tried to recooperate, to get herself back together but she just couldn't. She was hot and cold and whatever kept hitting her on the head was really annoying. She closed her eyes and slowly excepted her fate.

Wait

What the hell was that beating on her head? She lifted her face up to see and instantly got splashed by a drop of water. WATER! Filled with re-newed energy she stood up and looked on the mountain ledge to see a small oasis overflowing on the other side. She scambled up and fished the bottles and iodine out of her bag. After quickly filling them up and treating them she dipped her head into the cool pool and was instantly satisfied.

After splashing herself a bit more she went back for Dylan and found that he had managed to move himself under cover of a rock. She dosed him with some water and woke him up a bit, then they drank all three bottles of water without pausing. Together they made their way back to the pool to refill their bottles and dip in the water to their hearts content.

Once they had finished playing in the water they made camp nearby. They were fairly certain that no one would come near them but they found a little alcove with an over-hanging tree and made their camp there, using Julia's plastic sheet as a roof incase it rained. They had rationed out the food from Dylan's pack and although it was a good amount it wasn't going to last them as long as they hoped.

"We're gonna need more food" Julia said, Dylan nodded in agreement before peeking outside to see if their mentor had heard their plee. Julia looked over him and felt the sudden need to say something she thought she should've say ever since they had gotten on the train to the capitol. "I'm sorry, for being so...short with you." Dylan gave her a slightly quizzical glance "Ya know...back home."

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it. You've just saved my life so I think that kinda makes up for it." He smiled "Besides...I kinda tried to wind you up." Julia shot him a half shocked, half amused look. "I just found it so funny that you'd get mad at me for being nice, ya know."

"It wasn't that you were nice it was that you didn't react to anything! If someone slapped you you'd probably thank them!"

"Shh, keep your voice down. People out there are tryna kill us remember?" Dylan said, then he saw the look on Julia's face the one that made her look like a tea pot about to boil, red hot and full of things she wants to shout. He dropped his smile. "I'm sorry, ok. That was mean." There was silence for a minute or two while Julia calmed herself down.

"You know, I wish I could be as calm as you." She admitted, he chuckled slightly.

"Well it came from years of practice." He told her.

"What do you mean?" Julia asked, her nosiness drowning out her rage completely. Dylan thought for a moment before speaking.

"I was a really angry kid. People would always pick on me and I'd always be getting into fights and stuff, I was so, like, hostile and even my folks didn't like me all that much. I would just constantly be in trouble. Then my mom got sick. At first I got really angry about it and started kicking everything and anything that I came in contact with." Dylan looked down at his hands in his lap as if looking for strength to tell the next part of the story. He had tried so hard to keep his calm state about himself but now it was starting to crack. "One night I was watching over my mom who was bedridden at this point and I was so angry. I wanted to punch the illness right out of her, but I knew that wouldn't do anything...except hurt her. Then I realised that no matter how much I beat stuff up it's not gonna change can put out all the hate you want into this world but you're not gonna get anything back. Love, on the other hand, if you put out love then you'll get love back. That's the way it works. So I walked over to my mom, knelt beside her and held her hand. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked down at me and smiled. She squeezed my hand ever so slightly and I squeezed gently back. We stayed there until we fell asleep. It was a while until my dad found us and woke me and put me to bed. From then I started to control my anger. I stopped getting into fights and if someone tried to wind me up I'd walk away. A couple weeks later my mom died. I thought I'd be angry but I wasn't. I was glad I'd managed to sort myself out before she passed on and I was happy that she was no longer in any pain." Dylan took a moment and then lifted his head to look at Julia. "Ever since then I've tried to be calm about things and try to spread love instead of hate. So I'm sorry for winding you up, I know how shitty that was of me."

Julia was taken aback by his story. Words escaped her so she leant over the supplies and gave him a giant hug. When they finally broke apart their attention was drawn to a slowly falling sliver of silver visible through the hanging branches. Dylan reached out and brought in the package. They opened it and found it full of rolls of bread.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Hello! This is a shorter chapter, but quality over quantity and all that :)_

_MysteriousZebra: THANK YOU! You have no idea how happy that made me! Yeah it's really nice to know what people think of what you've written :)_

_Don'tForgetTheNotes: Hehe see I'm nice, gave you a nice chapter *nudge nudge wink wink* XD_

_Enjoy :)_

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Nick laid down next to Lily in the damp cave. They'd chosen to go there because it was the only familiar thing to them, although they'd only been in the caves back in District 12 on school trips they'd never been in a forest or a desert, they'd never seen a mountain range and they hadn't the foggiest idea of how to swim; so the caves were really the only option for them. They had decided to stick together from the start; neither of them were very strong and the thought of being alone in the massive arena with everyone out to get you was a terrifying one for both of them.

"How long do you think we have?" Lily asked the question that had been on their lips from the start, the elephant in the cave, if you will.

"Well we haven't heard anyone since the start...there's 11 of us left...9 of them out there..." Nick said, thinking it all through.

"I wonder who's left." And as if on cue the anthem blared out and they crawled a couple of meters through the cave to get to the part where a few rocks were missing in the roof and they could see the sky through the gaps. The seal shows for a few seconds then showed the faces of Arielle, Jeff and Corey. Nick and Lily scampered back to their little camp and laid down again. "So it's District 1...the girl from 2..."

"The boy from 5..." Nick carried on "the girl from 6, both from 7...the boy from 8...the boy from 10...and us." They lay in silence for a while whilst it all set in their minds.

"There hasn't been a cannon for a while." Lily stated. The implications of that hung in the air. The last cannon was very early in the morning, unless something interesting was going on then the gamemakers would be getting bored and when they're bored the tributes pay for it.

"There's far more interesting tributes out there." Nick comforted her "All we've done is found a stream and then come here. They're plenty other tributes they can play with. Plus what are they gonna do? They can't touch us in here. Don't worry, we're safe."

Silence reigned in the cave once more as they both thought about their chances. Various scenarios went through their heads.

"I'd rather sooner" Lily whispered

"I wanna go home" Nick admitted even quieter, Lily barely heard him. She reached for his hand and held it while he fought back the lump in his throat.

"They'll fight amoung themselves. We'll have to move eventually, probably when the feast is announced, then we'll let them fight it out between them. We'll have to face one of them but we'll probably find some weapons and some point and with two of us it shouldn't be much of a problem to over-power them." Lily reasoned, trying to get Nick's hopes up.

"We can't both win." Nick pointed out

"...rock paper scissors?" Lily suggested with a smile; they shared a laugh, finding humor in the smallest places was one of the very few things they had left so they clung to it.

Eventually they fell asleep, it was an uncomfortable sleep riddled with strange creepy dreams where everything was blurred, nothing seemed quite right and everything was just out of reach; but they woke up to the tranquil sound of birds singing which lifted them peacefully out of their sleep, for a moment it didn't seem quite so bad until the damk smell hit them with the reality of where they were and the inevitability of what was going to happen to them. Lily looked over at Nick who had sat up and had his head in his hands. She sat up and stretched as much as she could in the cramped cave, then she turned back to Nick.

"So what's the plan?" She asked him. He lifted his head and stared at the rocks in front of him.

"We could go to the stream again. Get some water, wash." Nick suggested. "We should probably see if we can tell what going on or anything."

"Ok. Should we go to the gap to see if we can see anything?" Lily asked, Nick paused for a moment as if he was in deep thought, then nodded. They crawled over to the gap and looked through to see bright sunshine, the birds still sang their happy song unaware of the chaos that was surrounding them. Then the sky seemed to darken, Nick and Lily weren't sure if it was just their eyes adjusting to the darkness then the birds stopped singing and silence filled the cave. They looked a each other, unsure of what exactly was happening but knowing it was something to do with the gamemakers. Lily went to speak but Nick held his hand up and listened intently to the sparse sounds of the cave. Then Lily heard it. The quiet sound of rushing water. They both realised what it meant at the same time. They were being washed out.

Nick and Lily crawled through the cave as fast as they could back to the entrance. Luckily they hadn't gone in too far, but they'd gone far enough. Neither of them knew how to swim and the sound of rushing water struck them with such fear that they were moving faster than they thought possible. Nick stole a glance behind them and saw the gushing water coming up close behind them. He knew this was the end.

"Lily." He said. She turned back and saw it too.

"Nick." She murmered. He turned to her and they looked each other in the eye, knowing.

The water gushed over them and took them with it and it stormed through the cave, bursting through any gap it could. It found its way to the entrance of the cave and exploded across the field, dropping it's victims at the mouth of the cave.

Coughing and spluttering, Lily and Nick woke up from a sleep they didn't expect to. Luckily they had been transported out of the cave, unluckily they had landed right at the feet of the last people they wanted to come into contact with.

"Well hey there." Devin smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! There's no excuse I'm really sorry. I will try my best to update more regularly!

Enjoy :)

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Two cannons went off, waking Julia from her sleep. Dylan was already awake and dividing the rations for breakfast, they still had most of the bread and they were planning on making it last a while. Julia sat up and Dylan smiled as he saw she was awake.

"Any idea who?" Julia asked in relation to the cannons.

"Nope." He answered, passing her ration of the bread over to her. She took it and nibbled at it as she got her thoughts together, they needed their strength today. They had decided to venture out to another part of the area. They had been safe in the mountains so far but the careers were probably on the move themselves and if they hadn't found them in any of the other sections it wouldn't be long until they invade their happy little camp. It was only a matter of time until they bumped into someone and it was better if they were active rather than sitting between some rocks, it also wasn't very entertaining so they had to get a move on if they didn't want to feel the gamemaker's wrath.

When they were ready they gathered their stuff, filled up their water bottles and went on their way out of the mountain area.

It was a bit of a trek getting back, neither of them had realised how far they had gone. They finally got to the edge of the meadow and hid behind some rocks to rest for a few minutes and to decide where to go. As they surveyed the arena a sudden thought jumped into Dylan's mind and he realised something he hadn't even thought about before.

"Hey Julia, have you noticed how there are five different areas in the arena?" He asked, his mind still catching up with his realisation.

"Technically there's six, if you count the meadow." She corrected, not trying to follow his train of thought.

"Well yeah, but look at how they're shaped. The same size, perfect distance from the cornucopia, and I don't know if you noticed, but the further we were into the mountain range, the narrower it seemed to get." Dylan explained to her, she had a slightly blank expression on her face.

"Ok...so?"

"So, it's a star!" Dylan smiled. "The arena is shaped like a star! That's why there are five different areas and why they get thinner the further they go. We're in a star!" Julia just stared at him for a moment, slightly dampening his great epiphany.

"So what does that mean? What difference does it make?"

"I don't know, we could use it to advantage, make it work in our favour."

"How?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure there's some way to do that." Dylan shrugged. Julia thought about it, it was a good idea but it would take some planning and their current location could be easily comprimised.

"First things first, lets find somewhere safe to plan this." Julia commanded, Dylan smiled at her ontake of his idea before looking back to see if the coast was clear for them to move to a different area.

"Hold up, careers over there." He pointed over to the outskirts of the desert area. They went back into the mountain area to hid for a moment while they came up with a plan. It took them a good while, but when they were done they emerged into the field and there was no one in sight. As quick as they could they ran across to the desert area.

They snuck across what they presumed to be the side of the arena and crouched down behind some rocks, it was there that inspiration struck Julia and she drew out her plan in the sand. Together they came up with a plan to trap the careers now they just had to wait for opportunity to strike.

Dylan looked over the rocks and saw that the coast was clear so he ran towards the curnucopia, Julia stayed behind the rocks and kept watch. The first part of the plan was to get some decent weapons and seeing as the careers and used the cornucopia to stache their goods Dylan was spoilt for choice. He'd made his way towards the back of the cornucopia, trying to decide which weapon would be best, when he heard the signal from Julia that someone was coming. He jumped behind a pile of backpacks a glimpsed out at the arena. He couldn't see anyone. He strained his ears to hear something but there was nothing. He took a deep breath and craned his neck round as far as he dared. He braced himself for the impact of a weapon. His mind had readied itself to die. But nothing. Why did she call then? Maybe she didn't. Maybe he was hearing things, his mind playing tricks on him. He'd convinced himself it was just in his head and began his search again when he heard a sound that he knew was real.

Her scream.

Dylan picked up the first weapon to hand and ran out to the desert area. Straight away he saw the boy from 1 standing over the rocks with a smile on his face and there was blood running across the sand from behind the rocks. Dylan saw red. That idiot wasn't even looking at him he'd easily get close and kill him. He was glad that he'd picked up the spear. Long, sharp and easy to kill wi-

He stopped in his tracks. Something had hit him. Something sharp. He looked down at his chest. An arrow. He looked back up to see the girl from 1 holding the bow and laughing manically. He hadn't even seen her. He fell to his knees. He could feel the blood pouring out of him. So much blood. Oozing out of his chest. It was everywhere. He didn't know he had this much blood. So this was it. This is all he came to. So much blood.

Two cannons went off.


End file.
